– Ubuntu Mayor also arrested for pension fraud.
– Mayor must step down and implicated officials must undergo disciplinary process.
– Those robbed of their pensions deserve justice and accountability.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) is calling on the ANC to enforce the immediate step-down of the Mayor of Ubuntu Municipality, Cheryl Jantjies, following her arrest by the Hawks on Friday in connection with alleged pension-related offences, and contravention of the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA).
Jantjies now joins the Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Randile Jacobs Shuping, and the Municipal Manager (MM), Levona Synthia Itumeleng, who were arrested last month on similar charges linked to alleged contraventions of the Pension Funds Act. The trio stand accused of failing to pay over municipal employees’ pension contributions to the relevant funds between February 2020 and September 2025.
Last month, the DA requested an urgent Special Council Meeting to table a motion calling for disciplinary action against the Municipal Manager and CFO, where we also intended on raising serious concerns about their failure to carry out their duties and the financial harm they caused to the municipality. To date, that meeting has not taken place and no disciplinary processes have been instituted.
The Mayor’s alleged involvement in the same matter raises even more serious questions about accountability in Ubuntu. The ANC cannot continue to look the other way while senior leaders face criminal charges linked to workers’ pensions.
In addition to calling on the ANC to enforce a step-down by Jantjies, we are also reiterating our call on the municipality to ensure that disciplinary processes against Shuping and Itumeleng unfold without further delay.
The people of Ubuntu deserve honest leadership and a municipality they can trust while municipal employees robbed of their pensions, deserve justice and accountability, not only in court, but also by the municipality.